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Who the Hell is Phyllis!
Vivienne’s diary delves deep into the societal intricacies of the early 1900s, where the newly minted Royal Australian Navy drew its cultural moorings from the upper echelons of the Royal Navy. In 1916, a heart-wrenching tragedy shatters the façade when Vivienne, the Headmaster’s elder daughter, is believed to have taken her own life.
Left in the wake of this calamity is twelve-year-old Phyllis, who grapples with grief and abandonment. With her parents emotionally absent and physically distant, she finds solace in Tally, cadet-midshipman and Vivienne’s beau. But as war calls him to Scapa Flow in 1917, Phyllis is cast adrift.
In her quest for affection, Phyllis stumbles, her heart often leading her astray, until fate causes her to marry Tally, now a Lieutenant. Yet, what promises a safe harbour turns stormy with a loveless union and Tally’s deteriorating health. As Phyllis navigates a life marred by addiction and multiple marriages, her constant remains Ginnie, her ever-faithful Persian cat, who not only provides solace but also offers a unique narrative lens, weaving a tale of love, loss, and resilience.
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Josephine and The Seven Brothers
The third book in the Hadley family trilogy follows Josephine Hadley as she supports her seven brothers who have volunteered for action in World War I. Stationed across Europe, the Hadley men serve in various dangerous roles, giving readers a glimpse into life on the frontlines.
Back home in Toronto, devoted sister Josephine corresponds with her siblings regularly, sending loving care packages and attending to every detail of their needs with fierce loyalty. However, as news from the front grows grimmer, Josephine grapples with the harsh realities of war and the uncertainty over her brothers’ fates.
Spanning the bloody battlefields of Europe to the anxious waiting on the home front, this concluding novel in the series immerses readers in the lives of the courageous Hadley family during one of history’s most devastating wars. With rich historical detail and an intimate portrait of sibling bonds, Josephine and The Seven Brothers delivers a poignant story of love, duty, and sacrifice.
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Nazar's Journey
Nazar, a boy on the cusp of his 14th birthday, has always enjoyed a peaceful and idyllic life on a simple farm in the Nineveh Plains of Iraq. His days were filled with helping his father with chores, attending the small village school in Karemlesh, and playing soccer with his friends whenever he had a spare moment. However, his quiet world is abruptly shattered when radical militants conquer the city of Mosul and unleash a tsunami of terror across the entire Nineveh Plains region. Faced with the horrifying sight of his own people frantically fleeing the tranquil village he grew up in, desperately seeking safety, Nazar is forced to make challenging decisions that will forever alter the course of his life. Within mere hours, he must leave his boyhood behind and embark on a journey that will forge him into a young man of extraordinary selflessness and courage.Featuring nine expressionist masterpieces by internationally acclaimed Iraqi-American artist Qais Al-Sindy.
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Those Trees Outlive Them
Spanning five generations from 1870 to 2013, this fascinating saga begins in a small village in colonial India and ends in modern-day New York City. Each chapter unfurls both an individual story and part of an epic family history.
Jani’s prose is visually rich and poetically weaves characters’ tales with intense, lyrical details. From British colonial rule in India, to Pakistan’s chaotic democracy, to 21st century America, inquisitive readers will adore this multi-dimensional cultural journey.
We first meet Fakir, a fatherless child who becomes a mystical storyteller, then an unlikely entrepreneur. Runaway teen Alam reinvents himself as an art teacher and womanizer over his adventures. Ambitious Ali Gohar journeys from Pakistan to attend NYU, while Jani grows up enduring racial tensions in 1980s Sindh before pursuing the “American Dream.” Finally, young physician Kabeer gives up a lucrative U.S. career to volunteer overseas, only to get swept back to his homeland by devastating floods.
Spanning continents and colourful personalities, Those Trees Outlived Them is an intimate look at one family’s roots across borders and generations.
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The Vinegar Letters
It is the mid-1820s and the great city of Glasgow, beneath its Presbyterian shell, is buzzing with gentlemen’s clubs, rivalries and gossip. At the centre of genteel society, which is known as The Quality, presides the wealthy wit, John Kingan Esquire. Having amassed a considerable fortune from trade, Kingan now looks forward to a retirement of good cheer in the best of company. However, his cosy plans are thwarted when he becomes the object of a campaign of revenge, mounted by a ruthless, Evangelical banker, Robert Watson. And what was the substance of this revenge? A series of anonymous and slanderous letters whose authorship Watson attributes to Kingan and Kingan to Watson.
Their implacable feud exacts a gruelling toll. It drags in a cast of characters from the upper and lower ranks of society. Many rue the day they became involved. For one, his involvement proves fatal. The affair, however, enthrals the Glasgow public.
The Vinegar Letters is an historical novel that apart from giving a lively account of one of the most famous scandals of the era, also introduces the reader to the fascinating customs, mores, and political shenanigans of a time of great social change.
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Greasy Chip Butty
You are invited to make a journey of exploration through an exciting landscape of life and faith. Let the chemistry of urban life surprise and inspire you. Let it challenge your deepest sense of self knowledge and belief.
Experience the best of humanity where you expect not to find it and share the pain that defiles the beauty of unique human beings. Join us as we explore pathways to wholeness and healing for people and communities and learn never to lose hope.
We believe in the art of the possible, the value of instant improvisation, and that out of the mistakes we will make, we can produce something beautiful. Learn to go beyond horizons of our own making and discover more than we can ask or think.
Take time to savour the art, which offers fresh insight into time-honoured stories of courage and faith in desperate situations; of joy and celebration; of compassion, perseverance, and dogged determination; deep contentment at the fulfilment of endeavour. Encounter the fragrance of generosity of spirit; and the love which embraces injustice and suffering, transforming them beyond all we can imagine.
Join me on this journey that has no end but just gets better. As we walk together, we may discover pearls of great price, and not a little humour on the way.
“Greasy Chip Butty is a textured, local authentic history in a very real and rapidly changing place. Those stories deserve to be studied and celebrated and the wisdom garnered from them needs to be widely shared.” – Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford.
“What a great read! A moving and wonderful example of doing narrative theology on the hoof … reflecting on change, risk taking and adventure.” – John Thomson, Bishop of Selby
“I read Greasy Chip Butty with delight and new learning. A kaleidoscopic and impressionistic narrative which, through the lens of music and art, shows how God has been at work in one specific neighbourhood of Sheffield.” – Pete Wilcox, Bishop of Sheffield.
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Tempting Fate
In 1519, Pedro, a Franciscan priest, sets sail from Cuba with Hernan Cortes’ brutal expedition to South America. Though filled with passion for adventure and converting native peoples to Catholicism, Pedro is unprepared for the shocking barbarity he is about to encounter.
Accompanying Pedro is his friend Aguilar, who spent eight nightmarish years enslaved by natives after being shipwrecked. As the journey to Mexico City grows increasingly treacherous – fraught with disease, deprivation, and attacks – Pedro and Aguilar bear witness to scenes of unimaginable cruelty.
They stand amazed by the intelligence and charisma of King Montezuma and the exotic sophistication of the Aztec capital with its ornate temples decorated in thousands of sacrificial human skulls. Yet beneath the surface beauty lies a dark terror: cages of men, women and children being fattened for ritual sacrifice, their beating hearts cut from their chests as offerings to the gods.
As the campaign unfurls, Pedro and Aguilar are shocked by the brutality of their own countrymen. The ruthless exploitation of natives causes them to question their purpose here. Are they true men of God or merely instruments of Spanish greed? When fellow conquistador Alvarado orchestrates the brutal massacre of Aztec nobles at the feast of Toxcatl, Pedro and Aguilar are forced to make an existential reckoning. Their encounters with local people lead both men to reexamine every aspect of their lives and reconsider what they once thought was their higher purpose.
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Liverpool Early Teens
No longer a schoolboy but now a youth poised for a fresh start, he sensed significant changes brewing in the aftermath of World War II. With the war concluded, nations, both victors and vanquished, were in a flurry to redirect their economies towards peace. He was caught up in the palpable excitement of a transformation on the horizon.
‘I’m leaving school this Easter,’ he announced to the boys on September Road. Climbing down from the low stone wall, he made his way home, bidding farewell with a wave.
He found himself on the brink of joining the ranks of the unemployed. A ship’s engineer, or perhaps an apprentice to one, as his father had hinted? The discussion around what job might suit him never ventured into the realm of Marine Engineering. The topic soon became as extinct as the proverbial dodo – his initial taste of disappointment.
The challenge of finding a position as a young adult had arisen, and his life progressed accordingly. Demonstrating eagerness and a willingness to work was non-negotiable; he was more than ready to spread his wings.
Yet, amidst these challenges, his reflective moments found solace in the image of the breathtakingly glamorous Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth. Her latest film had introduced her new visage, now occupying his quieter moments: a comforting vision that offered him a gentle escape.
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Mysterious Ways: The Death That He Died
The crucifixion of Jesus was not the simple event we imagine. All sorts of factors played a part including politics, religious rivalry and the need to destroy what we cannot understand. There are seeming inconsistencies in the Bible story such as what happened in the long period between when Judas left the Last Supper and when Jesus was arrested. Common sense would suggest that Caiaphas would send his guards out as soon as he knew where Jesus was, but he didn’t. Why not?
Many people were involved ranging from the star players such as Pilate and Judas Iscariot to the bit players such as Simon of Cyrene. In this book each of these is given their chance to explain their role in their own words. They can say what they really thought of what was going on. The author finished writing his book with a far firmer conviction about the divinity of Jesus and how much his sacrifice cost him, than when he started.
These stories have been used and appreciated by the author’s own church and by friends who knew what he was doing. They have been used as devotional readings for Holy Week, in schools, as dramatic readings in services, for Bible studies and to help students with their studies. They are also a good read and an effective way of introducing people to Jesus.
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The Agony of Poland
In the latter part of 1939, German leader Adolf Hitler made a pact with the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to invade Poland. Confident that British and French leaders would opt for a weak peace settlement, Hitler’s army stormed in from the north, south and west on September 1st, while Stalin’s Red Army invaded from the east on September 17th.This story, part fact and part fiction, is an account of the suffering endured by the Polish people at this time, many of whom were imprisoned in Siberia and forced to work under dreadful conditions. Yet when Hitler turned on Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Poland’s exiled found common cause with their Russian captors to take up arms against Nazi oppression.Though the Allies emerged victorious in 1945, a heavy price was exacted from occupied Poland. Many survivors discovered they no longer had homeland to which they could return, their former communities now under firm Soviet control.
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Napoleon General: Mountain Paths
In the aftermath of the Siege of Toulon, Napoleon emerges triumphant, driving the British from the Midi Region of Southern France. Yet, the shadow of war with Austria looms ominously. While battling external foes, Napoleon faces internal demons: the treacherous political landscape of Paris, the snare of Barras, and a corrupt Directory eager to undermine him.
Despite saving a government that once sought his demise, having him imprisoned during the chilling Jacobin purges post-Robespierre, Napoleon’s resilience shines. His decisive ‘Whiff of Grapeshot’ during the Vendemaire crisis not only earns him accolades and the command of the Army of Italy, holding back Austrians in the rugged terrains of Genoa and Piedmont but also the heart of Josephine de Beauharnais, his legendary love.
Napoleon General: Mountain Paths meticulously chronicles this turbulent era, offering readers an immersive journey into warfare's evolving artistry and Napoleon’s growing genius within it.
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Strings of Destiny
In an era where freedom remains elusive, a young man finds himself at the heart of a struggle for the most fundamental human right: the right to be free.Set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1950s Cyprus, this tale, inspired by true events and interwoven with a touch of magic, sees Herodotos championing the cause for independence on multiple fronts. His story marks a timeless testament to the resilience of the few who dare to defy the might of the many.
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